Air India Express flight to Jammu returns to Delhi due to suspected ‘GPS interference’

Jammu: An Air India Express flight from Delhi to Srinagar via Jammu returned to its origin airport before landing here on Monday afternoon, officials said.

A spokesman of the airline said the flight returned to Delhi as a precautionary measure following a suspected “GPS interference” and an alternative aircraft was later provided to the passengers to reach their destination.

The officials said that the flight IX-2564 was supposed to land in Jammu around noon before leaving for Srinagar, but it hovered over the Jammu airport for sometime before its pilot decided to return to Delhi without landing.

The weather and the runway were clear, but it seems the pilot could not find an appropriate landing area, they said.

“Our Delhi–Jammu flight returned to Delhi as a precautionary measure following a suspected GPS interference incident. Subsequently, an alternative flight was organised to connect guests to Jammu,” said an Air India Express spokesperson.

“We regret the inconvenience caused. Instances of GPS signal interference have been reported by operators while flying over certain sensitive regions,” the spokesperson added.